The present invention relates to information-recording apparatus, an information-recording method adopted in the apparatus, a program implementing the method and a program storage medium used for storing the program. More particularly, the present invention relates to information-recording apparatus, in which an area for recording an FS (File System) can be allocated in a recording medium if necessary as a portion of an area used for recording files even when the FS is updated frequently and/or information is added to the FS frequently, if the FS is stored in scattered areas, pieces of information stored in the scattered areas can be collected into a single area by carrying out an optimization process so that information can be read out and written from and into the recording medium at a high speed, the amount of consumption of a TDMA (Temporary Defect Management Area) can be reduced and, if it is known from the beginning that logical write operations are to be carried out frequently, the recording medium is formatted to set the TDMA at a sufficiently large size so that the TDMA can be updated frequently, as well as relates to an information-recording method adopted in the apparatus, a program implementing the method and a program storage medium used for storing the program.
A technology for recording files into a recording medium with a large storage capacity has been becoming popular.
In addition, a variety of formats of recording files into such a recording medium with a large storage capacity has also been proposed.
A typical one of the formats is a UDF (Universal Disc Format) used in a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). For more information, refer to documents such as Non-patent Document 1: Universal Disk Format Specification Revision 2.50 Apr. 30, 2003 Optical Storage Technology Association.
By the way, in UDF specifications of Ver. 2.50, file-system information is collected and placed in a single area referred to as a metadata partition and includes an additional function located at a logical address in the metadata partition.
In the case of a write-once recording medium, which is a recording medium allowing data to be stored thereon only once, in an operation to update a file stored thereon or the file system recorded thereon, the updated file or the updated file system must be recorded in a new area of the recording medium. It is thus necessary to update the logical address of the file or the file system to a new logical address corresponding to the physical address of the new area.
In the case of a Blu-ray Disc conforming to the UDF specifications of Ver. 2.50, a file and/or file-system information are recorded on the disc as shown in the upper diagram of FIG. 1. In the following description, the Blu-ray Disc is referred to as a BD. FIG. 1 is diagrams each showing a typical recording state of the BD, which serves as a write-once recording medium. In the following description, the BD serving as a write-once recording medium is referred to as a BD-R (Blu-ray Disc-Recordable). In the figure, LSNs (Logical Sector Numbers) or logical addresses are set, starting from the left side of the figure. In the upper diagram of FIG. 1, LSNs of 0 to N are assigned to an area set as a volume space. An area pointed to by the first LSN of 0 as an area marked with the word ‘Reserved’ is a reserved area. Following the reserved area, an area marked with a character string of ‘VRS’ (Volume Recognition Sequence) is an area used for recording information indicating the type of the file system. Following the area marked with a character string of ‘VRS’, an area marked with the phrase ‘Files (Stream+DB)’ is an area used for recording stream data written by an application program onto the BD in a recording process or stream data to be read out by an application program from the BD in a reproduction process and used for recording database information to be used in the recording or reproduction process. Following the area marked with the phrase ‘Files (Stream+DB)’, an area marked with the phrase ‘Files (not under BD management)’ is an area used for recording data recorded by a program other than an application program for recording stream data onto the BD and reading out stream data from the BD. Following the area marked with the phrase ‘Files (not under BD management)’, an area marked with the phrase ‘FS (Metadata)’ is an area used for recording file-system information as metadata. Following the area marked with the phrase ‘FS (Metadata)’, two areas each marked with the word ‘Anchor’ are each an area used for recording anchor information. Sandwiched by the two areas each marked with the word ‘Anchor’, an area marked with the phrase ‘Volume Str. (Volume Structure)’ is an area used for recording information on the structure of the volume. It is to be noted that the area marked with the phrase ‘Files (Stream+DB)’ is a block B0. On the other hand, the area marked with the phrase ‘FS (Metadata)’, the two areas each marked with the word ‘Anchor’ and the area marked with the phrase ‘Volume Str.’ form a single block B1.
Let us assume for example that stream data is added to the BD-R with a recording state shown in the upper diagram of FIG. 1 and the database information of the stream data is updated accordingly. In this case, information is recorded onto the BD-R as shown in the lower diagram of FIG. 1.
That is to say, new stream data added to information recorded in the block B0 and the database information used for reproduction of the updated stream data are recorded in a block B0′ following the block B1. In addition, since the updated stream data is recorded in the block B0′, updated file-system information, which is referred to hereafter as an FS, anchor information corresponding to the FS and information on the structure of the volume are recorded in a block B2. At the same time, the FS information, the anchor information corresponding to the FS and the information on the structure of the volume, which exist in the block B1, are put in a state of being unreadable.